


With Age I've Lost My Footing

by keelover



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Stormwatch (Comics), The Authority, WildStorm
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2012-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-13 02:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelover/pseuds/keelover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jenny's sixteenth birthday starts with an explosion, and ends with cake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Age I've Lost My Footing

There was an explosion; it was sudden, and no one saw it coming. A noise, like a jet liner, roared within her head. There was no time to react, no time to call for a door to come and rescue them. Jenny touched her hand to her nose, blood staining her fingers. This was, by far, the worst birthday she had come across.

 

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Jack asked, pain noted in the hoarse pitch of his voice. Shen had just enough time to envelop them, with Jack's help, beneath the Earth.

 

“Fuel discharged from that ruptured car, adding to the fire those idiots set, and the flames heated a truck carrying propane. I mean, Jesus, thirty thousand gallons of boiling propane just burst the tanks metal enclosure passed its breaking point! The fifty thousand gallons of isobutane didn't help any, either.” Angie stumbled, hand clutching the side of her head. She was okay, but no less rocked.

 

“They killed themselves,” Shen said, face bitter.

 

Angie helped Jenny up, wiping the girls nose. “Are you okay?” she asked.

 

Jenny didn't know. “Where's my dad's?” she asked.

 

That was a question that would remain unanswered for the next fifteen minutes as they searched high and low through the debris and the ruble for any sign of them. Jenny looked up, an incandescent orb heading their way. Apollo crashed landed, too fast and too hot to be stopped. For all their dysfunction, that was still her father bloodied and beaten. When his eyes opened and peered up at her, Jenny gave a sigh of relief, taking his hand into her own.

 

“How much did I absorb?” he asked, cheeky grin to his face.

 

“The state of Arkansas's still standing, so pretty all right.”

 

“Where's your dad?”

 

“I don't.” Jenny paused. “I don't know.”

 

Apollo was gone before she could blink. “Shit. Way to go, Jenny,” she said, berating herself as she stood to her feet. Midnighter would be fine, she thought, he always was.

 

“ _Midnighter!_ ” That was Apollo's voice, he had found him. Jenny had never heard her father sound like that. In flight, she propelled herself faster, coming up to the team, _her_ team, crowded around one of their members; her father.

 

A substantial piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in his chest. The small cuts to his face were already healing themselves, as was the flesh around the shrapnel that caused them all to feel such horror. “One of his heart's been punctured,” Angie said, removing the tattered layers of his costume. “We need...I need to get him back, we have to get him back.”

 

“What the hell are we waiting for?” Jack asked. “Door.”

 

There wasn't a moment in their lives where they weren't in constant danger, that was just fact, but this was different, Jenny realized. Jenny operated on a larger scale, dealt with the ins and outs of this world and many others, but she felt fearful. She was worried, securing Apollo's hand in hers as Angie and Shen set about their work with quick hands and even quicker minds. Jenny was grateful Midnighter had sustained a blow to his head, as odd as it sounded, he wouldn't have to endure the procedure awake with only a mild anesthetic that wore off before the scalpel was even lifted. A thought came to Jenny then, and her eyes welled with tears.

 

“Jenny, what's wrong?” Apollo asked, thumb wiping at her cheek.

 

Jenny hugged him tight as something within her broke, giving way to a heartfelt confession. “I did this. I grew up too fast. I never, never stopped to think what it would mean for you, and I'm sorry.” She sobbed, the warmth her father provided bringing mild comfort.

 

“Jenny, you didn't do anything,” Apollo said, tilting her head up to look at him. “You couldn't have seen this coming. Your dad will be all right, Angie and Shen will make sure of that. And we have no one to take revenge against because they did it themselves.”

 

Jenny took a deep breath. “I love you,” she said. She had almost forgotten how much.

 

“I love you, too. You're my daughter,” he said, a sincere smile to his face. “This will take a while, why don't you lay down?”

 

Jenny nodded her head. “Can I sleep in your bed?” she asked, hopeful.

 

“Of course.”

 

Jenny crawled underneath the sheets and comforters, Apollo tucking her in even as she fought him off. She wasn't _that_ much of a child considering the moment. With her knees tucked into her chest, and one arm tucked underneath Midnighter's pillow, she felt her eyes grow heavy. A hand smoothed down her short hair, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. A soft kiss bestowed upon the top of her head reminded Jenny that just because she was the spirit of the twenty-first century, didn't make her any older than other kids her age.

 

Jenny still needed to be loved and encouraged. She still needed her parent's for support, dysfunctional or not. She needed to be reprimanded and guided, and she needed her family to keep her pushing forward, but not to where she would overdo herself. Jenny knew she had a lot to learn, but she also knew she had a lot to remember. Apollo and Midnighter might need her, but Jenny needed them, too.

 

Jenny woke an hour later, on her feet and drifting towards the infirmary. Angie was still working on him, concentration stitched into every crevice of her face. Shen had her index and middle fingers at each temple, a light pink aura shimmering from her. Apollo stood near by, holding Midnighter's hand in his own, a distant look in his eyes. There was something wrong.

 

Without looking at her, Apollo said, “One heart's wiped out, and the second one is damaged.”

 

Jenny brushed a lock of her behind her ear, fingers itching for a cigarette. “He's going to be okay, though, right?” she asked, hand upon her father's shoulder.

 

“I'm keeping his mind free from the situation,” Shen said, peering over at Jenny with a smile. “He hates it.”

 

“Can you tell him I say hi?”

 

The pink aura brightened and grew, Shen's face serene as her head cocked to the side. “He says hello, and happy birthday...and some other, unmentionable things about me taking over his mind.”

 

“It's six in the morning, and this day's already gone to shit,” she said, an unpleasant twist to her lips. “Where's Jack?”

 

“Recovering,” Angie said, never taking her eyes off the complicated procedure she was conducting. “The city took some extensive damage, and as the King of Cities, so did he.”

 

“Do we know how many casualties?”

 

“We haven't turned on the news to find out. Thankfully, most of the civilians had already cleared out when the bleed had ripped opened,” Angie said. “UFO's and all that. No one wanted to be anally probed, I guess.”

 

Jenny watched as Angie's hands morphed into whatever she needed them to be; it was a tantalizing thing to behold, her ability to both save life and take it away. Jenny felt anxious, settling her hand over Apollo's and Midnighter's. A pang of heartache touched her; one hand so blatantly warm and the other benumbed. Apollo was giving as much warmth as he could without singeing less receptive flesh, the same warmth that flowed through her now. She laid her head upon Apollo's shoulder, remembering her early childhood.

 

There were memories of late night flights through space around the Sun, no planet was ever off limits, even the bitterly cold ones. There were memories of Christmas spent decorating their room, promises of Santa Claus being in one piece—never mind Lobo. There were memories of being held by Midnighter, his face visible and soft as he shuffled her around at night when she couldn't sleep, showing her the endless streams they traveled through. There were memories of him leaving her, of her heart breaking, but she knew his misguided departure had been made out of both love and fear. And there were memories of time spent on the sofa, popcorn on her lap as she chose what movie to torture her parent's with for the evening.

 

Jenny's bottom lip trembled then, her chest tight. A horrible birthday, indeed. Apollo looked at her, an awareness laid out in the span of his eyes. “Jenny, you're a pain in the ass, but we still love you. You're ours, and you always will be. You still haven't decided what you want for your birthday,” he said, never removing his hand from its place.

 

“I just want him to be okay,” she said, and she meant it. A new year was approaching, one of many. Jenny knew she needed to be strong.

 

Jenny took a seat beside her father, lashes weighing heavily against her cheek. She didn't dream, not normally, and she doubted she was then, but she knew she wasn't in the infirmary. Midnighter sat at the edge of a lake, swirls of blue, green and purple commanding the scenery. Jenny took a look around, but none of the doctors were present. With a sense of apprehension, she approached her father.

 

“You scare everyone off?”

 

“You'd think being dead would stop them from being a bunch of pussies, but no.”

 

Jenny sat beside him, looking him over, he appeared unharmed. “Yeah, well, they're hippies. Confrontation isn't their forte, remember?” she asked.

 

Midnighter turned his head to look at her, eyes softened. “I'm going to be all right,” he said.

 

Jenny wrapped her arms around him. “I know,” she said. “I'm just scared.”

 

“Time to wake up, kid.”

 

Jenny sat up, she was in her bed, hand wiping the sweat from her forehead. With unsteady legs, she walked through the carrier, wondering what time it was, if she had slept through her birthday. A loud noise came from the mess hall, and Jenny followed it. She took a faint glance out at the realm they traversed through, turquoise turtles moving as one. Jenny thought briefly of Habib, and what became of him after Armageddon had come to pass.

 

She missed him.

 

“Happy birthday, _Jenny Q!_ ”

 

The cake had been been put together in haste, chocolate frosting missing in patches, her name streamed crookedly in red. Jenny had never seen a cake as amazing as the one laid out in front of her, her family tired and weary, bloodied and broken, celebrating the day she nearly shook the world off its hinges. Angie hugged her first, followed by Shen and Jack. Apollo and Midnighter sat close, looking worn out but content. Jenny wrapped her arms around them both, bringing their heads together.

 

“I love you, guys.”

 

Midnighter pressed a kiss to her cheek, a rare moment of tenderness shared between them as father and daughter. “Got you your present,” he said, chest healed but a reddish hue still outlined where the shrapnel had impaled.

 

Jenny smiled, caught off guard as Apollo smashed a good size chunk of chocolate cake into her face. She shrieked, laughing as the others joined in. From what she could taste, it was delicious if a bit dry, but it wasn't consumed as much as it was catapulted across the room at various angles. Apollo's hair was coated in frosting and crumbs, Midnighter picking out the pieces as the two smiled, eyes locked onto each other. If there was one thing Jenny would never doubt, it was the love that her parent's shared for each other and her.

 

“Christ, I need a cigarette. I've got the shakes,” she said, leather jacket swung over her shoulder.

 

The baby Universe shimmered and hummed, bursting to the brim with potential. The carrier was a remarkable piece of technology, she thought as she lit up. With all things considered, the life she led wasn't bad, and it was most certainly not dull. With a snort, she turned back around, frosting dried like cement to her face as she continued on, stopping just short of Apollo and Midnighter's room. She wasn't a child anymore, but maybe, just for the night, she could spend some time with them.

 

“How about a movie?”


End file.
